More Than Smoke And Shadows Chapter 1: ANBUs Are Generally Batshit, a naruto fanfic

Title: More Than Smoke And Shadows.
By: Kaara.
Disclaimer: Naruto is owned by Kishimoto.
Rating: R, for language and sexual/as well as other things implications.
Note: Easing back slowly into the fandom. Still writing Ino fics; the story of my life. This will be multiple chapters. Updates will be random but hopefully consistent enough to not make you resent me to the point of being homicidal (some reviewers scare me, seriously). Enjoy, hopefully?

Chapter One: ANBUs Are Generally Batshit (And We All Know It).

"Eagle here. The perimeter is secured. Jackal, Crane; move in. West Entrance, three doors to the left. Retrieve item and exit. Absolutely zero contact – hundred percent stealth. I repeat, zero contact. Rendezvous point – .7.4 South East. I repeat – .7.4 South East. Hound, Monkey; prepare for backup and transportation. Stay invisible at any cost."

"Copy that. Jackal and Crane, moving in. Out."

"Copy that. Hound and Monkey, already in position. Out."

Static buzzed through the silence for a few more seconds until the silhouette finally switched off its communication device, slinking back and blending into the shadows once again, provided by dense leaves of its perch. Its stylised porcelain mask gleamed bone white under treacherous moonlight, crimson swirls decorating an otherwise bare cover as the silhouette resumed its vigilant surveillance of the situation at hand. The impressive compound of a mansion twenty feet ahead was its primary concern, and it tensed slightly when two shadows flickered for a split second at the corner of its vision, before disappearing into the main building.

The branch creaked when the silhouette leaned slightly forward, one gloved hand gripping the gnarled surface for support and another tapping the seconds away on its thigh. It waited for any sign of disturbance – two guards chattered loudly as they ambled through the corridor, dangerously close to the exit point – and relaxed soon enough when its communication device cackled to life.

"Jackal's reporting. Item retrieval's a success. Advancing to rendezvous point now."

"Midnight's in five minutes. You have three."

"Copy that. We're out."

The occupants of the mansion continued to slumber in peace even as the silhouette gave the compound one last searching sweep, checking and re-checking to make sure that no evidence had been left behind during the infiltration. The guards were merrily ensconced over a small bonfire in the backyard, drinking sloppily and oblivious of what had taken place just minutes before. Satisfied that it was a job well done (it didn't expect any less in the first place), it stilled for a moment and closed its pulsating white eyes, opening them again once the pulses abated.

Hyuuga Neji adjusted his mask and, like any self-respecting ninja, disappeared into the consuming darkness without a trace.

His squad members were already waiting when he touched down onto the grassy field just outside of the small town, white masks attached to shadows just like him. The moon was thankfully hidden behind a parade of dark clouds by the time he arrived – dark nights were a ninja-on-mission's best friend – and Neji directed a curt nod towards Jackal, who was lounging against a tree besides the slender form of Crane.

"Status report."

Crane detached itself from the tree and took a step towards him. "Item successfully relayed to Hound and Monkey. They're already on their way back right at this moment. Approximately half an hour until arrival at headquarter."

"Jackal."

"No rogue bees around our honey pot this time, boss." There was a trace of mischief lacing the otherwise monotonous voice and Crane lightly smacked Jackal's armoured arm. "I mean. All ours. Negative on outside interference."

"Move out."

"Yes, sir."

The journey back to Konoha was fortunately uneventful, which was rare, courtesy of the outbreak of skirmishes around the borders of Fire Country after the Sound Village had collapsed from the lack of leadership material since Orochimaru's death. Apparently, those rogue ninjas that Orochimaru accumulated during his reign had taken on venting out their frustration and homicidal urges on unsuspecting villages and towns, as well as ninjas on missions who were unlucky enough to cross path with them. Missions had been known to fail due to outside interferences rather than a team's incompetence.

The Fifth Hokage had been livid when a genin was killed during one of the attacks.

ANBU squads and jounin teams, aside from Hunter squads, were dispatched actively to seek out and annihilate rogue ninjas, which only meant that everyone's workload had tripled in amount. Regular missions still kept on coming and thanks to the sudden need for bodyguards, especially for businessmen with caravans, those missions had multiplied too. It was a strain to keep up with the incoming requests and sometimes, even the elites were sent to deal with trivialities and cater to rich sods' paranoia.

Neji signalled his comrades to a stop upon arriving at the gates surrounding the village, dropping from the tree to greet the guard on duty that night. They had reached Konoha about an hour after the estimated time of Hound and Monkey's arrival, and he needed to make sure that those two transporters had arrived safely. Every ninja was required to report at the Gate and declare their status if they were to enter Konoha, as safety measures had been tightened after the Sand Invasion and uncomfortably regular visits from Akatsuki members.

The guard, who turned out to be one Shiranui Genma, grinned at Neji, needle pressed between his lips. "Busy night for ya all?"

"Genma-san." He nodded in acknowledgement, flashing his identification tag at the jounin. "Requesting permission to enter for ANBU Squadron Nine. Eagle. Jackal. Crane."

"Scroll, please."

Neji popped open a small pouch strapped to his thigh and fished out a palm-sized scroll, handing it to Genma. He waited patiently as the jounin did several quick hand seals to verify the scroll's authenticity, scribbled something into a tattered logbook and returned the scroll to its owner. Jackal and Crane dropped soundlessly behind him, close enough to show their own tags and masks. Neji observed the process in silence, conscious of hidden eyes of the designated ANBU squad for the night around them. One wrong movement, one hint of hostility and they would be taken down there and then.

Guilty until proven innocent, that was Konoha's new policy.

"Identifications confirmed and request's granted." Genma shifted the metal needle to the other side of his mouth and gestured at someone inside the tower to his left. "Oi, Suzuha! Open up!"

A word of polite gratitude escaped Neji's lips, as a door jerked open at one corner of the massive gates. He turned to the jounin and said, "Genma-san, I need to ask for the status of ANBU Squadron Nine. Hound. Monkey. Have they reported in?"

"Gimme a second." Genma thumbed through the logbook and stopped at one particular page. "Yeah, they did. An hour before you guys. Headed straight for the Tower, I think."

"Thank you."

The jounin's grin softened into a smile and he inclined his head. "Same here. Keep up the good work."

They exchanged nods with another guard at the other side of the gate, before leaping onto the nearest rooftop and proceeded to head straight towards the Tower, reduced to black-as-midnight blurs and nothing more. There were still people around, off-duty ninjas mostly, walking down the streets and stumbling out of bars and clubs at such late hour. Neji observed them with disinterest, taking in the sight of disgruntled frowns, intoxicated grins and uncoordinated limbs. He never had the opportunity to indulge in such careless behaviour, and as one of them pitched forward into a ditch, he didn't think that he was missing out on anything life-changing.

Hound and Monkey greeted them inside one of the lounges in the Hokage Tower with a freshly-brewed pot of coffee and a bowl of rice cakes. Monkey, true to its namesake, was perched on one of the chairs, legs drawn underneath its chin and fingers fiddling restlessly with its arm guard and mask. It jumped off the chair when Neji walked into the room, hand springing up into an awkward salute. Hound, on the other hand, merely graced them with a tired wave from its sprawl on the couch. Its mask was tilted to a side, allowing a strip of beard-covered jaw to peek out from underneath white porcelain.

Neji gestured for Monkey to take a seat, which it twitchily ignored. "Status report."

"Item delivered to Management, no problem." Hound grunted and roused itself on its elbows, twin wakizashi sticking out by its hip. "Mission's a success."

Jackal let out a huge yawn at the statement, hands stretched over its head. "Time to make love to my bed, baby."

"Remember to stuff back those holes in the mattress once you're done, eh?" Crane sneered from one corner of the room, hands crossed against plated chest and long legs bent into a squat.

"At least I use mine, you dickless prude."

Before the argument could escalate into something much worse (which it would, according to history – those two knew each other for far too long), Neji cleared his throat and stared pointedly at the two. Monkey fidgeted with its mask again as it sidled quietly onto a chair near the Hyuuga. Hound was probably already asleep, judging from its lack of physical reaction to Jackal and Crane's budding spat. Sometimes, Neji thought that whoever it was that drafted members for ANBU's squadrons must had harboured a massive grudge towards him. He had been assigned to the best subordinates in the whole division. Really.

Neji unhooked a scroll from his waist and tossed it at Crane. "Mission report. Tell them to re-evaluate the status. This one should only be classified as 'B'. Next time, send chuunins. Put that down in black and white."

"Yes, sir."

"You're all dismissed."

Monkey's hand suddenly shot up into the air right after the order, nearly knocking off its mask from its face. "Leader-sir! Um. Wait!"

Neji raised an eyebrow, suppressing a sigh. "Yes?"

"Message for you from Hokage-sama!" It fumbled with a compartment of its body suit, before triumphantly brandishing a small folded note and passing it to Neji with near visible childish glee. On first impression, one wouldn't have thought that it was a five year old child, instead of a killing machine.

"Thank you." Neji flipped it open and frowned at the order for an audience with the Hokage first thing next morning. He was supposed to have a day off after all the missions he had been assigned to lately and he wasn't in the mood to deal with Konoha's sometimes incompetent bureaucracy.

His life sucked really badly sometimes.

Jackal jerked its chin at the note in Neji's hand. "Any problem, boss?"

The Hyuuga shook his head and tucked the note into his weapon pouch. "Not yet." He turned on his heels and headed towards the door, pausing long enough to glance back and deliver a short 'good night' to his squadron members.

He needn't have bothered. The room was already empty.

Tsunade looked up when Neji knocked on her door, her hand stilled over a jug of sake while another was crumpling a roll of papers that looked suspiciously like mission reports. There were stacks of paperwork precariously mounted around the busty female, though he was quite sure that the amount of empty sake jugs on the table could easily outnumber the papers if he were to take the trouble and count. Neji waited until the Hokage had taken a long swig from the jug before stepping into her office, kindly ignoring the crunched balls of paper (among other things) around an overflowing rubbish bin at one corner of the room. The office had never known tidiness since Tsunade took over, no matter how many attempts her exasperated subordinates had done to restore dignity to the room.

One of the stacks chose that very moment to avalanche onto the floor and Neji impassively stood before the table as expletives rang loudly inside the room.

This almost made coming to the place during his supposed leave worthwhile. Almost.

"Hyuuga Neji," Tsunade finally addressed him directly, sounding harassed and looking much worse. She jerked open a drawer and fished out a folder from its depth, tossing it at Neji in one careless motion. It felt heavy in his hand, bound with the customary black-green seal of Konoha and an additional orange-crimson one of Suna. The glaring red 'CLASSIFIED' stamp over brown cover made him arch an eyebrow. "This request came in late yesterday and the client specifically asked for you. Normally, I wouldn't give a shit about who the client wants – we know better than some politically-ambitious toad when it comes to getting a job done."

Neji nodded politely and waited for the inevitable 'but'.

"But," Godaime sighed and leaned back into her chair, crossing her arms under the weight of her chest. "The client is currently here in Konoha to see your departure for the mission. I've been told that he's one of your fans." The emphasis and slight sneer on the word, and Neji had a hunch that she was somehow blaming him for this unpleasant twist of event. "He also happens to be a close relative to one of the Council's more obnoxious members and has the tendency to throw temper tantrums if his wishes are not carried out the way he wants them to."

"Seems easier to just assassinate him than follow his whims," he offered quietly, the corner of his lips quirked into a small smirk.

Tsunade laughed at that, raising her sake bottle in a mock salute and took a quick sip. "I'll consider that option once we get this settled. Bottom line is; one mistake in our part, one complaint from an influential client and the Council will have a reason to stick their noses where they don't belong. And I don't like noses, Hyuuga, or any other wrinkly parts of their anatomy in my office. I don't like being questioned how I run this village. My village." It was quite a spectacular sight to see the Hokage being half-plastered and very pissed off so early in the morning and Neji wisely kept his opinions to himself. The long-running conflict between the Godaime and the Council was as infamous as one Uzumaki Naruto's property damage reports by then. She turned bloodthirsty eyes towards him and he was glad the wrath wasn't directed at him. "I assume you understand my position right now?"

"Yes, Hokage-sama." Neji relaxed slightly as those eyes turned a shade friendlier.

This was one person he wouldn't want to make enemies with.

"All the details you need should be inside there." She opened another drawer, retrieved yet another folder, much thinner this time, and placed it on the table. "You will be working alongside a kunoichi, due to the nature of this mission, but she's currently finishing an assignment for Intelligence. Should be done by now so you might want to arrange a pre-mission meeting. Up to you. That folder contains her basic statistics, areas of specialisation and additional notes from past co-workers. Get friendly with it. Departure is tomorrow, 0800 hour, East Gate. Your client will be there, unfortunately. Handle him the way you see fit, as long as I don't see a Council member in my office. Standard procedure applies, ask for backup if needed and pull out if the mission specifics provided by the client are in any way incorrect or impaired. We're running a business here, not a bravado show and I don't want any of my ninjas dead for stubbornly pursuing a screwed-up mission. Report to me as soon as you come back so I can arrange a short holiday for ruining your day off. Got it?"

"Perfectly." At least the Hokage had enough consideration when it came to the well-being of her subordinates, even if he did have to endure the much-dreaded client the next day. Neji picked up the second folder and stepped back, bowing as he did so. "If there's nothing else, I shall take my leave."

"Hyuuga."

Neji paused at the doorway and glanced back.

Tsunade was smiling softly, chin on her fisted fingers. "Be careful."

"Of course, Hokage-sama."

The door closed behind him to the multiple crashes of papers hitting polished floor (and another colourful rainbow of verbal vulgarity) and Neji flipped open the folder that held the identity of his partner. One of the waiting rooms was empty, save for a cleaning lady, and Neji slipped in, leaned against its whitewashed wall and ignored the smile sent his way. Underneath the glossy photograph of soft curves, warm grey-blue eyes and an 'I-know-something-you-don't' grin was the name of his partner for the next few days. After a quick check to establish the fact that yes, this was an S Class mission and no, he wasn't seeing things, Neji allowed an almost inaudible 'huh' to escape his lips.

He certainly wasn't expecting Yamanaka Ino, of all people.

Chuunins, after all, weren't known to be assigned to S Class missions.

TBC

A/N: So. What do you think? Reviews are super encouraging and make my heart all tingly.